Pictured: Association staff in 1942 and Association staff earlier this morning, celebrating 135 years of connecting Aggies and serving as a powerful way for Aggies to give back to A&M. Via the Association, A&M former students: -- built not just A&M’s YMCA but also Depression-era student housing; -- took over the Aggie Ring program at the request of President Rudder; -- have offered student loans since 1922; -- publish magazines, websites and directories; -- support hometown Clubs, special-interest former student networks and Class Agents -- and today provide an annual impact of $10.6 million to Texas A&M and the Aggie Network. Timeline: -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1876 Oct. 2. College officially opened to students. Can’t have former students till ya have students. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1879 June 26. Organizational meeting of Association of Ex-Cadets held at Bachelor’s Hall, Houston. 1880 June 6. Association of Ex-Cadets’ first on-campus meeting. Roll Call for the Absent used for first time. 1886 June 1. Alumni Association replaced Association of Ex-Cadets. Membership limited to graduates. 1896 June 8. Alumni Association adopted new constitution opening membership to ex-students with at least two years’ credit. Alpha Phi fraternity established for all who had “worn the gray”; this organization plans a “Fraternity Book,” forerunner of the Directory of Former Students, and in 1899 will merge into the Alumni Association. 1896 June 8. Alumni Association established the Alumni Bureau, forerunner of the Placement Office (later known as the Career Center). 1911 Association declared the 1894 Class Ring design by E.C. Jonas ’94 -- first to feature some of the symbols used on current Aggie Ring -- to be the “signet ring of the Alumni Association.” 1915 Association completes $120,000 building intended as both YMCA and Association’s permanent home on campus, but donates its place in the building to A&M, which desperately needs space. The Y serves as the center of student life until the MSC is built; Midnight Yell is first held on its steps in 1931. 1916 First issue of Alumni Quarterly, forerunner of Texas Aggie magazine. 1919 The Association of Former Students established with membership open to anyone who had attended the college for one year. 1921 First issue of Texas Aggie. 1922 Association established Student Loan Fund; still provides short-term loans to students. 1936 With hundreds of cadets unable to afford dorms and sharing costs by living off-campus in “project house” cooperatives, The Association helped build such houses on campus, to be officially supervised by A&M. Students used the housing until the cooperative system’s official end in 1947. 1942 Association established Development Fund, later known as the Annual Fund. In 2013, the Annual Fund alone was the source of $9 million in the total $10.3 million of support the Association provided to A&M. 1949 First separately published Directory of Former Students (previously part of the annual college bulletin). 1957 Association built All Faiths Chapel for $257,000. 1965 Century Club established as foundation for Association’s Annual Fund. Members contributed $100 or more each year. 1967 Directory of Former Students prepared from computerized data for the first time. 1969 A&M President Earl Rudder ’32 transferred Aggie Ring program to The Association. 1973 Association headquarters added to Memorial Student Center. 1976 Association provided initial funding to establish A&M’s Center for Education and Research in Free Enterprise. Later renamed the Private Enterprise Research Center. 1987 Dedication of $7 million Alumni Center named for Clayton W. Williams, Jr. ’54. 1995 Association website established. 1999 Association launched new logo and brand campaign, “We are the Aggie Network.” 2002 Directory of Former Students went online. 2009 Enhanced Williams Alumni Center rededicated; 12-foot, 3-ton bronze Haynes Ring Replica unveiled. 2012 Association created Young Alumni Advisory Council to help connect former students of the most recent 10-year period. 2014 Largest Ring Day yet at Williams Alumni Center -- 4,400 Aggie Rings distributed April 11.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 19:06:11 +0000
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